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MODERN vs 50s WIRING
The traditional 50s wiring is preferred by most players. When your switch is in the middle you have the ability to "blend" in either neck or bridge pickups but as mentioned when either volume pot is turned down on the way it will shut the guitar off. To me that makes sense. I do not care for the independent wiring and never use it in any of my guitars. Gibson Historics like the R9 have 50s wiring and pretty much the rest of the Gibsons and Epiphones all have the modern wiring circuit.
The other difference between the Gibson 50's wiring and the Gretsch wiring (WildKat uses Gretsch syle) or other types of modern wiring is the way the tone circuit is connected to the volume pot. With 50's wiring the capacitor and tone control comes after the volume pot (lug 2). This helps retains highs as you roll down your volume pot eliminating the need for a treble bleed. It also reduces the load that the capacitor and tone control have on the circuit even when tone control is on 10
With modern wiring the capacitor and tone pot are connected in front of the volume pot (lug 3). This causes them to load and makes things a bit darker. It can also add muddiness as you roll down your volume pot and this is why people use treble bleeds to try and correct that. A better quality patch cord will also help retain highs, cheaper patch cords and curly cords add capacitance to the circuit making your sound darker.
Many Gibson guitars use the modern wiring circuit as well as Fender and most all other brands. When you see the capacitor soldered to the back of the tone pot, or a jumper wire connected from the tone pot to the outside lug of the volume pot it's modern wiring. Strats, Teles, Jazz and P-Bass all use some form of modern wiring. This is why Fender uses a "No Load" pot sometimes. That pot when on 10 has a bypass that takes the tone pot and capacitor out of the circuit until you turn it to 9 then it begins to load and tone control works.
Best regards,
Jonesy
The traditional 50s wiring is preferred by most players. When your switch is in the middle you have the ability to "blend" in either neck or bridge pickups but as mentioned when either volume pot is turned down on the way it will shut the guitar off. To me that makes sense. I do not care for the independent wiring and never use it in any of my guitars. Gibson Historics like the R9 have 50s wiring and pretty much the rest of the Gibsons and Epiphones all have the modern wiring circuit.
The other difference between the Gibson 50's wiring and the Gretsch wiring (WildKat uses Gretsch syle) or other types of modern wiring is the way the tone circuit is connected to the volume pot. With 50's wiring the capacitor and tone control comes after the volume pot (lug 2). This helps retains highs as you roll down your volume pot eliminating the need for a treble bleed. It also reduces the load that the capacitor and tone control have on the circuit even when tone control is on 10
With modern wiring the capacitor and tone pot are connected in front of the volume pot (lug 3). This causes them to load and makes things a bit darker. It can also add muddiness as you roll down your volume pot and this is why people use treble bleeds to try and correct that. A better quality patch cord will also help retain highs, cheaper patch cords and curly cords add capacitance to the circuit making your sound darker.
Many Gibson guitars use the modern wiring circuit as well as Fender and most all other brands. When you see the capacitor soldered to the back of the tone pot, or a jumper wire connected from the tone pot to the outside lug of the volume pot it's modern wiring. Strats, Teles, Jazz and P-Bass all use some form of modern wiring. This is why Fender uses a "No Load" pot sometimes. That pot when on 10 has a bypass that takes the tone pot and capacitor out of the circuit until you turn it to 9 then it begins to load and tone control works.
Best regards,
Jonesy
